The Nightmare, the Turnovers and the Season's Over

[Militant X 1]

Sports media is hammering Lamar . Calling him a choke artist of the highest order.

Of course they are and there is nothing anyone can say against it in my view. It's unfortunate, cause Lamar (and the Ravens) had the opportunity to squash all of that talk with an "MVP-like" performance. One we did not see!

 

[SaltyDog]

I mean he gets the blame when he plays poorly, which he did.
I don't see a lot of people blaming Jared Goff for losing yesterday. And that's because Goff was good, not great, and the offense he led scored a lot of points.
You don't have to be great to get the praise, but you can't be crap and your team score 10 points and avoid criticism. No matter who you are.

For context:
The 10 points scored is the lowest amount scored by any AFCG team (win or lose) since 2014.
The 17 points scored by KC was the lowest amount of points scored in an AFCG victory since 2000, when, yes, the Ravens beat the Raiders 16-3.

The thing that bothers me most is the depth of stupidity of that throw. With over 10 minutes left on the clock and hopefully knowing that a FG would be good at that point, he chooses to throw into a sea of red unis, and doesn’t even put the ball where his guy could have a shot at catching it. It’s just got me in a state of disbelief. I know Lamar is smarter than that, right? Somebody help me understand why Monk wasn’t in his ear telling him not to take unnecessary risks in that moment.

Haven said that there were so many miscues in that game. The Zay taunting penalty, the Clowney head shot, the Zay fumble, the INT, etc., it’s hard to put it all on Lamar’s shoulder. Just one big clusterfuck if you ask me.

 

[drjohnnyfever]

I've been trying all day to put words to what I saw yesterday, but the whole OFF came out with their hair on fire. Way too much adrenaline, or something. The only thing I could compare it to is when you're a kid playing basketball and you're playing so frenetically that your shots are off a little, rebounds are grabbed and all the hands around cause you to throw the ball away or put up a quick under the hoop shot without really even thinking about it and you miss or up-and-down. It just seemed like they were playing with that kind of self imposed urgency. Where you're moving at a faster speed than the game and what's necessary and just mistake ridden because of it.

I know others must have had this experience. I know it's a juvenile comparison, but I actually just witnessed this same thing with my son's basketball game. His team is pretty good, but the other team was expected to win going in, but they came out like that and never recovered from it. They were clearly pushing. I feel like I saw the same thing yesterday.

Really felt this was our year and to go out with the kind of "thud" we did is just.... sad. But that OFF was a hot, f'ing mess.

 

[29BmoreBird22]

I'm borrowing this from another poster on Reddit regarding the Likely no-call/INT:

The ball was headed directly for where Likely stopped, which is the moment interference happened. He got shoved out of the way, and the DB got an uncontested catch.

Contact initiated here: https://imgur.com/a/t0QVKE5 (notice the spike in the endzone logo)

Ball is caught directly over that same spike: https://imgur.com/a/dKPCZHe

Matched up Likely's position where he stopped before contact to 2nd image: https://imgur.com/a/OuiUwQu

Likely probably doesn't catch that ball in all seriousness, there's no reason to assume he would watching the replay, but there's a decent shot he prevents the INT at least. That's why it's clear DPI.

 

[rmcjacket23]

I'm borrowing this from another poster on Reddit regarding the Likely no-call/INT:

The ball was headed directly for where Likely stopped, which is the moment interference happened. He got shoved out of the way, and the DB got an uncontested catch.

Contact initiated here: https://imgur.com/a/t0QVKE5 (notice the spike in the endzone logo)

Ball is caught directly over that same spike: https://imgur.com/a/dKPCZHe

Matched up Likely's position where he stopped before contact to 2nd image: https://imgur.com/a/OuiUwQu

Likely probably doesn't catch that ball in all seriousness, there's no reason to assume he would watching the replay, but there's a decent shot he prevents the INT at least. That's why it's clear DPI.

So to summarize, we drew up a play, and executed it, where the best case scenario is a defensive penalty, and the worst case scenario is we get picked off.
And our argument now is... they have to throw the flag, because the officials need to give our TE a chance to be the defender on an offensive play.

Somebody put a quarter in the merry-go-round.

 

[Truth]

I'm personally not fully against an attempt to draw a DPI. I'd prefer doing so in 1v1 situations along the boundary, which we did objectively try at least once. And I can understand the thinking to an extent regarding the Likely attempt. That being said, on 2nd down, 5 yards away from the red zone. Perhaps most importantly, against a referee unit that was criticized before the game for its potential bias against home teams. I'm disappointed but not shocked that it wasn't called.

 

[29BmoreBird22]

I'm personally not fully against an attempt to draw a DPI. I'd prefer doing so in 1v1 situations along the boundary, which we did objectively try at least once. And I can understand the thinking to an extent regarding the Likely attempt. That being said, on 2nd down, 5 yards away from the red zone. Perhaps most importantly, against a referee unit that was criticized before the game for its potential bias against home teams. I'm disappointed but not shocked that it wasn't called.

I don't even think it was an attempt to draw a DPI- like the still shots showed, Likely is in a spot to make a play on the ball. It seemed akin to his touchdown against the Texans just a week prior.

Would it have been a really tough throw? Absolutely. Could the ball have been placed better? Assuredly.

But I can't find any truth in the idea that they were gunning for a DPI; just so happened a clear and obvious DPI was committed, but not flagged.

 

[29BmoreBird22]

Thanks Reddit guy. Be the brand.

Sure thing, sideline coverage.

 

[rmcjacket23]

I'm personally not fully against an attempt to draw a DPI. I'd prefer doing so in 1v1 situations along the boundary, which we did objectively try at least once. And I can understand the thinking to an extent regarding the Likely attempt. That being said, on 2nd down, 5 yards away from the red zone. Perhaps most importantly, against a referee unit that was criticized before the game for its potential bias against home teams. I'm disappointed but not shocked that it wasn't called.

You can attempt to draw OPI when the worst case scenario is OPI. Not when its the best case.

 

[Truth]

I don't even think it was an attempt to draw a DPI- like the still shots showed, Likely is in a spot to make a play on the ball. It seemed akin to his touchdown against the Texans just a week prior.

Would it have been a really tough throw? Absolutely. Could the ball have been placed better? Assuredly.

But I can't find any truth in the idea that they were gunning for a DPI; just so happened a clear and obvious DPI was committed, but not flagged.

I believe that Jackson was asked about it in the post-game interview, and he said that thought he could drag a flag. I could be wrong, but I swear I thought that was the reason he gave.

 

[29BmoreBird22]

I believe that Jackson was asked about it in the post-game interview, and he said that thought he could drag a flag. I could be wrong, but I swear I thought that was the reason he gave.

I just watched it again and he basically said, "I didn't want to throw it out of the end zone. I thought it would be PI, but the safety made a great play."

I don't think he was gunning for DPI.

 

[Truth]

You can attempt to draw OPI when the worst case scenario is OPI. Not when its the best case.

I'd say when the worst case is an incompletion and the DPI is the second best outcome, but it sounds like we both have reasons to question the decision there.

 

[Truth]

I just watched it again and he basically said, "I didn't want to throw it out of the end zone. I thought it would be PI, but the safety made a great play."

I don't think he was gunning for DPI.

Honestly, that makes me think he was going for the DPI because the ball was underthrown well enough to not allow Nick Bolton or Chamarri Conner to come away with the INT; so he was potentially thinking DPI or incompletion, but the Deon Bush peeled back to intercept it. That's at least my interpretation of it.

 

[29BmoreBird22]

Honestly, that makes me think he was going for the DPI because the ball was underthrown well enough to not allow Nick Bolton or Chamarri Conner to come away with the INT; so he was potentially thinking DPI or incompletion, but the Deon Bush peeled back to intercept it. That's at least my interpretation of it.

I just think he made a bad throw, honestly.

In watching the replay, everyone else was pretty well covered and Likely did have a step on the defender. Lamar indicated he saw both defenders on Likely, but just didn't want to overthrow, which I can somewhat understand because he'd overthrown several deep shots on the day.

I don't think Lamar was thinking DPI or bust, but I don't think we'll ever be able to say for sure.

 

[Truth]

I just think he made a bad throw, honestly.

In watching the replay, everyone else was pretty well covered and Likely did have a step on the defender. Lamar indicated he saw both defenders on Likely, but just didn't want to overthrow, which I can somewhat understand because he'd overthrown several deep shots on the day.

I don't think Lamar was thinking DPI or bust, but I don't think we'll ever be able to say for sure.

It honestly could be that. That's the thing that sucks about these situations. They're always subject to having to interpret them. All we do is try our best in that respect.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

I know there was some seriousness here in your sarcasm, eluding to how hard it is to have everything come together as it did, including a fully healthy roster. We really let a golden opportunity slip away that may not come again.

Exactly.

However, we felt the same when we lost the billy cundiff game, so… there’s hope

 

[Truth]

Exactly.

However, we felt the same when we lost the billy cundiff game, so… there’s hope

A very good shout!

 

[29BmoreBird22]

It honestly could be that. That's the thing that sucks about these situations. They're always subject to having to interpret them. All we do is try our best in that respect.

I agree. And the worst part is, it's a play from the final game of the season, so it's not one we'll be quick to forget.

 

[allblackraven]

The thing that bothers me most is the depth of stupidity of that throw. With over 10 minutes left on the clock and hopefully knowing that a FG would be good at that point, he chooses to throw into a sea of red unis, and doesn’t even put the ball where his guy could have a shot at catching it. It’s just got me in a state of disbelief. I know Lamar is smarter than that, right? Somebody help me understand why Monk wasn’t in his ear telling him not to take unnecessary risks in that moment.

Haven said that there were so many miscues in that game. The Zay taunting penalty, the Clowney head shot, the Zay fumble, the INT, etc., it’s hard to put it all on Lamar’s shoulder. Just one big clusterfuck if you ask me.

He threw off balance, while being hit into double coverage vs Jacksonville. Likely caught it and Lamar was proclaimed a genius. That shit was on every channel and podcast non stop for two weeks. Threw behind Likely vs Texans but Likely caught it - genius again. Yesterday Likely was blatantly tackled and was robbed of the opportunity to fight for football. It's feasible he could have caught it or at least could have done enough to break the INT - Lamar sucks in critical moments.

It's fucking hard being Lamar. Always under the microscope, regardless of the fact everybody is forgetting - offensive game plan was atrociously bad. No attempts to alter it, either. Playing under the pump AND under the microscope with almost no help is sometimes too much even for Lamar.

 

[purplepittabread88]

This. It looked like we started to do that during the season.

Lamar seems to have a problem with batted passes more so than any qb I have watched. He doesn’t do anything different it doesn’t make sense. Also when other qbs have batted balls they hit the floor but Lamar’s always seem to go into the atmosphere for three flags up. I literally have no guesses or explanations for that